Chapter 1200: No One Can Save the Heavens from Collapsing |
Many years ago, when Yi Shu first learned of the Du'e Sect's theory, he was just like most Taiyan Sect cultivators and held it in absolute contempt.
When a calamity arrived, instead of actively seeking ways to counter it, they chose to hide like turtles and pin their hopes on some vague, illusory calamity-savior. This was completely baseless and an unpredictable variable.
However, as one of the Ten Great Immortal Sects with a lineage inherited from the Grand Mage of Heavenly Capital, the Du'e Sect's tradition had already appeared in archaic times. Surviving for so many years proved that it indeed held some unique truth.
It was simply that outsiders could not glimpse the profundity of the Du'e Sect.
Today, when Yi Shu arrived at this Holy Dynasty of Great Qi, which seemed to have suddenly sprung from a crack in the stones, and witnessed numerous technologies that rivaled the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance's highest level, as well as a brand-new cultivation method completely different from current practices, one that could thoroughly overturn the Dharma-Transmitting Immortal Ancestor's foundation in the Xuanhuang Realm.
In Yi Shu's mind, the words spoken by the Du'e Sect back then instantly resurfaced.
At that time, the Great Calamity had just begun to show signs. The core leaders of the Ten Immortal Sects gathered together to discuss possible countermeasures.
Each sect freely expressed its views, yet only the Du'e Sect's attitude was extremely passive.
"Fellow Daoists, as the saying goes, if one can avoid a calamity through mere struggle, then is it truly a calamity?" The Du'e Sect leader, Lu Chengheng, sat with eyes lowered and a look of complete detachment.
The most hot-tempered Lord of the Indeterminate Prison, Xiahou Yan, wore an unpleasant expression and retorted on the spot.
"Xiahou, you do not understand. This is a necessary measure to await the appearance of the Xuanhuang Calamity-Savior." Lu Chengheng said indifferently.
"Xuanhuang Calamity-Savior, my ass. In the face of calamity, all living beings perish. Once everyone is dead, where could this savior possibly emerge from?" Xiahou nearly cursed aloud.
"Are you questioning the Grand Mage's inheritance?" Lu Chengheng's single sentence left Xiahou Yan speechless.
"Besides, there is still all of you." Lu Chengheng smiled, then added meaningfully, "The Xuanhuang Realm is not so easily destroyed. If there is any Immortal World in this star sea that can survive to the very end, it will certainly be our Xuanhuang."
The ten sect leaders heard this and none offered any rebuttal.
After a brief silence, perhaps to reassure everyone, Lu Chengheng briefly explained: “The notion of crossing calamity is not baseless talk. Great tribulations and cycles of destruction and rebirth are, by nature, part of the workings of Heaven and Earth. Even the grand catastrophe of the Immortal Realm may not be beyond the expectations of the True Immortals.”
"You are all in constant panic. Just look at the Grand Mage. Has He shown even the slightest disturbance?"
The Taishang Sect master, who had remained silent until now, Xuan Ji, finally spoke: "The Grand Mage's cultivation reaches the level of creation. Even in the immortal ruins, He treads as if on flat ground. Disasters capable of destroying the Xuanhuang Realm hold no concern for Him. We cannot match that. Brother Lu, I will not stop you from choosing to seclude yourselves. But in facing the calamity, you cannot contribute absolutely no effort."
Under everyone's collective gaze, Lu Chengheng finally nodded and made a compromise.
However, Lu Chengheng's final words plunged everyone present into silence once more.
"One day, you will all know that our Du'e Sect was right."
At this moment, spanning thousands of years, the collective consciousness of the Taiyan Sect and Yi Shu's body suddenly recalled Lu Chengheng's words from back then.
After gaining a superficial understanding of the principle behind [Foundation Establishment Built Upon Oneself], the Dao Deviation Stone Mother incorporated this variable into its derivations of the Xuanhuang Realm's future.
The originally clear future became blurred and indistinct, as if encountering a chaotic storm.
Even with the Stone Mother's current god-like computational power, it grew somewhat confused for a time.
The Taiyan Sect had actually once attempted to derive a brand-new cultivation method capable of overturning the Immortal Ancestor system.
But...
Creating something from nothing was not the same as deriving the future based on existing data.
The Dao Deviation Stone Mother had only determined that such a possibility existed. However, the probability was too small.
It was even smaller than the probability that the Immortal Ancestor would survive the encirclement by Longevity Immortal realm cultivators back then.
Beyond the sheer difficulty of creating the new method itself, what mattered more was the Immortal Ancestor's omnipresent influence on the Xuanhuang Realm.
Just as cultivators gradually forgot the Xuanhuang Realm's calamities and infinitely overlooked the terrain changes that had been occurring for thousands of years.
Deriving a new method was not only the ultimate expression of creative power.
It was also a contest against the Immortal Ancestor's influence.
Thus, in the Dao Deviation Stone Mother's derivations, which clearly understood the current strength of the Dharma-Transmitting Immortal Ancestor, the probability of a new method being born naturally approached zero.
Yet something far beyond the derived possibilities had precisely occurred.
In a remote corner of the Xuanhuang Realm floating in the void, unknown to anyone.
In a force that had only recently emerged.
Not only had the brand-new method quietly appeared, but it had even developed to the Golden Core stage!
It truly struck like a thunderbolt, causing even the Dao Deviation Stone Mother's derivations to stutter slightly.
Because based on all currently known factors, no reason could be found for the new new method to emerge at this time point.
It could only be explained by the Xuanhuang Calamity-Savior, something beyond common sense and outside the variables.
The Ten Sects had privately discussed the Xuanhuang Calamity-Savior to some extent.
They reached a nearly unanimous conclusion: If such a so-called savior truly existed, he must either come from outside the Xuanhuang Realm or be the reincarnation of some powerful expert.
A native cultivator growing up solely by his own power, wanting to single-handedly save the heavens from collapsing...
Was fundamentally impossible.
No matter how talented, it would not work.
The environment of the Xuanhuang Realm could no longer produce the foundational soil capable of opposing the Immortal Ancestor.
"Just what is the background of this Faceless Holy Emperor of Great Qi?"
At this moment, in Yi Shu's mind, or rather in the Taiyan Sect's collective consciousness, all contempt had completely vanished.
Instead, they regarded the Holy Dynasty of Great Qi as an equal power, or even one a level higher.
And they truly began deriving the possibility of allying with the Holy Dynasty of Great Qi.
As one of the former rulers of the Xuanhuang Realm, now compressed by the Dharma-Transmitting Immortal Ancestor's Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance into only the Taixuan small world, it was impossible for the Taiyan Sect to harbor no resentment.
Even though they no longer needed territory or resources, the fact that what they once possessed had been stripped away left a resentment in the Taiyan Sect's consciousness that lingered like a nightmare.
"Back then, sects such as the Grand Dao and the Taishang, although they outwardly opposed the Ten Thousand Immortal Alliance, had in reality already colluded with it and become no different from the Immortal Ancestor's lackeys."
"But presumably, like us, they have not fully submitted. What they lack is merely an opportunity."
And the appearance of the Holy Dynasty of Great Qi, especially the appearance of the brand-new method, gave the Taiyan Sect a glimpse of that sliver of hope.
However, after all, it was a sect that had survived since the ancient calamities.
Any decision concerning their fate was made with the utmost caution.
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